Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Single Barrel Bourbon

Another one of my older bottles in my selection, and one of my favorites. Nose is very flowery and almost perfume like. Taste is a very nice oak toast. Then it comes with a fruitiness that then morphs into a smooth toffee. The finish is present but on the shorter side, urging you take another sip.

I've been going through my collection looking for unreviewed bottles, and was surprised that I'd yet to officially review this one (though I've certainly enjoyed it numerous times). This "necessary" review is a task that I'm more than happy to do on a college football Saturday! Color shows a clear hue somewhere between Pantone 158 and 159. Fruity nose exposes apples, mulled apple cider, pomander, cinnamon. On the palate, there's a quick hit of spicy cinnamon red hots, along with a fruity sweetness. No oiliness or viscosity. The red hots sweeten on the finish, tamed by some butterscotch and vanilla. The bottled-in-bond 100 proof punches a little above its weight, though not in a disjointed way. The overall impression is one of being "focused" or "tightly wound" in wine-review parlance, rather than mouth coating, smooth, penetrating, and viscous. Very good, but missing an additional gear; perhaps this is to the high expectations that this bottle projects. 4.0 on the Distiller scale. Secondary for this bottle is currently around $250; I purchased mine for a third of that. Value is relative at some level. There are about 16 1.5-ounce shots in a standard 750ml bottle. I'm not sure who pours just 1.5 ounces when savoring at home; so figuring a more realistic ten pours per bottle, $25 per pour is significantly cheaper than you're likely to find at a bar, but not something that most will be imbibing every day. You can thank me later for the mental accounting justification if you choose to go the "buy the bottle" route. ;) Buffalo Trace doesn't label or date these, but my single-barrel bottles were purchased three-odd years ago. 100 proof, as the bottled-in-bond designation indicates. N.B.: All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.